Personal Responsibility
In our current culture, playing the victim opens up the door to all sorts of entitlements for people. Some use it as a way to justify their actions. Some use it to gain attention or sympathy. Others use it to obtain a benefit. In an attempt to help others, we often look back at someone’s past or history and feel a desire to “correct” the mistakes of the past that may or may not have been that person’s fault. While the ways in which we go about correcting past difficulties for groups of people remains a the subject of debate, the Bible makes it clear that using your past difficulties or family history to justify your current wrong actions is not ok.
Ezekiel 18 is a chapter that focuses on individual responsibility. Just like we do today, the Jews accused God of being unfair in his judgement of their sin claiming that they were being punished because of the disobedience of their ancestors. God tells the Jews that each individual is responsible for his/her eternal life or death. The actions of their fathers does not affect whether or not they go to heaven or hell. That is determined by each individual.
We do this today right? We say, “I had a bad childhood so God will overlook some of my sin because of my trauma,” “everyone in my neighborhood or family does this,” or “this action is just a part of our culture.” The flip side of all of these work too when we say, “I grew up going to church so I am good with God” or “my parents are strong Christians so I know enough about God”. Have you heard this one? “Their son has all of these problems so the parents must have been not parents loved God enough.” These excuses just don’t cut it!
Ezekiel 18:19-20
Yet say ye, Why? Doth not the son bear the iniquity of the father? When the son hath done that which is lawful and right, and hath kept all my statutes, and hath done them, he shall surely live. The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.
There are two reasons that the Jews felt that children could be punished for the sins of the father. One of the reasons that the Jews thought this way was likely from a passage in the law:
Exodus 20:4-6
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them: for the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
The Jews saw this passage as saying that the sins of the father could be passed down onto the children. However, that is not the case. There are two ways to look at these verses:
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- God is speaking of consequences. The children of the men who hate God will have to deal with the consequences of the father’s sin.
- God is speaking of children who continue in their father’s sins. Children imitate their parent’s behavior. So, children who continue in their father’s sins will be punished (“them that hate me“) and those who do not continue in their father’s sins will be granted mercy (“them that love me“).
- There is a difference between assuming the responsibility for another person’s sins and assuming the consequences of another person’s sins. The current residents of Judah were not personally responsible for Manasseh’s sin. They were responsible for their own sin. But, they were certainly affected by the consequences of Manasseh’s sin. This shouldn’t be a surprise to us. When a drunk driver kills an innocent person, that innocent person unfortunately assumed the consequences of that drunk’s sin. It seems unfair, but keep in mind, the eternal life or death of that innocent person was based on their life choices and not the drunk person’s life choices. And note, when we repent of our sin, God will forget the sin, but he will not necessarily dismiss the consequences of our sin!
- God was willing to lessen the consequences of Manasseh’s sin. We see over and over again God pleading with Judah to repent and if they do, God would show mercy to them. Jeremiah 27 is a great example of this when Jeremiah comes before Zedekiah (king of Judah) and tells him to submit to Babylon as God has directed in order to remain in their land (this was a required consequence of Manasseh’s sin). But, if Zedekiah doesn’t submit, then he and his country would be destroyed. Again, God spoke to Jehoiakim (previous king of Judah) in Jeremiah 26:3-5 “If so be they will hearken, and turn every man from his evil way, that I may repent me of the evil, which I purpose to do unto them because of the evil of their doings. And thou shalt say unto them, thus saith the Lord; if ye will not hearken to me, to walk in my law, which I have set before you, to hearken to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I sent unto you, both rising up early, and sending them, but ye have not hearkened; then will I make this house like Shiloh, and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth.” There are numerous passages that have this same message! So, the current kings and residents of Judah had ample information and time to repent in order to lessen the consequences of Manasseh’s sins. The fact that Jerusalem and the temple was completely destroyed was not just the fault of Manasseh and the people under his evil reign but also of the current people of Judah who continued to sin.